Helping kids cope with divorce
by Vincent Ciccarello
A website that aims to help children, teens and parents
experiencing separation or divorce was launched by UniSA and
Centacare last month.
CHaT First (CHildren and Teens First) is unique in that it presents information about separation and divorce with a child-centred focus.
It is the result of months of research as part of the Children and Families in Transition (CAFIT) project looking at the needs of children in separating families.
Project director and leader of the Centre for Peace, Conflict and Mediation in UniSA’s Hawke Research Institute for Sustainable Societies, Associate Professor Dale Bagshaw said that research shows children are voiceless in the separation process and yet are deeply affected by it.
"CHaT First is one of a number of services we have developed in partnership with Centacare and with the help of two Telstra Foundation grants to help children to cope with their parents’ separation," Prof Bagshaw said.
"The website content – which includes a range of age-appropriate information, support, interactive games, music and useful contacts – came out of the responses of parents, children and relatives in a state-wide phone-in. It has different sections for children, teenagers and parents."
In addition to CHaT First, the CAFIT project has developed parallel parent and child education groups and child-inclusive mediation as part of a comprehensive model of family service delivery at Centacare Catholic Family Services.
"The model prioritises the needs and rights of children and aims to enhance communication between parents and children, to minimise the effects of parental conflict, violence and abuse, and to assist parents to help their children to cope with separation," Prof Bagshaw said.